Hat-trick hero not enough as Titans continue their slide

Whilst he may have scored a hat-trick going up against Warriors winger Manu ‘The Beast’ Vatuvei, Titans winger David Mead, and his three-try effort were just not enough, as the Titans were roasted by a red-hot Warriors side.

With the talk being the David vs Goliath battle between Mead and Vatuvei, clearly, it was the young Mead that came out on top, but that would do little to make him feel happy.

The Warriors were simply too strong, with the win their third on the trot in front of just over 17,000 fans at Mt Smart Stadium, their first over the Titans in 6 attempts.

For the Titans on the other hand, it seems that their season is going from bad to worse, having only won 3 games so far this season, and yet to have their first bye.

Despite several calls that could have gone either way, Titans coach John Cartwright labelled his side as being diabolical in their all-round play, and that ultimately, it cost them the game.

“I haven’t seen anything like that on the field before,” Cartwright said.

“I suppose he got it right. He called play on. We should have tackled him.

“The first 25 minutes I thought we were pretty comfortable. From that moment on, for some reason, we were diabolical through to halftime.”

Whilst he may not like to admit it, Cartwright knows that it is now crunch time for his team, as they face the Sea Eagles, at Skilled Park next week.

“But it is not so much where we sit on the table – it’s about playing consistently and we are not doing it at the moment,” he said.

Despite the teams poor performance however, Cartwright could force a smile when discussing David Mead, and his stellar performance for the Titans.

“He worries like all wingers if they are not scoring tries, but he’s been in the right position. It just hasn’t been happening for him in the last couple of weeks,” Cartwright said.

On the other side of the coin, for Warriors coach Ivan Cleary, he is just glad to have Manu back in his side, and hopes his best is not too far around the corner.

“It’s hard for anyone to come back from a knee injury but someone that big, it’s a bit harder – we are very happy to have him back,” he said.